IntelliVision this week announced that the latest version of its facial recognition technology now runs as a cloud-based service as well as on edge devices and on-premise servers.

“Face recognition is becoming a must-have security feature for smart homes and buildings, smart retail, transportation, access control and the gaming industry,” Krishna Khadloya, IntelliVision VP of engineering and products, said in the announcement. “Our face recognition now gives system integrators the flexibility to implement facial detection and recognition in the cloud, on servers, or at the edge, providing real-time results, and reducing bandwidth usage.”

The latest version of IntelliVision’s facial recognition technology is capable of detecting at least ten faces in less than one second with only 25% CPU usage on an Ambarella S5L-based camera, it announced, and as many as twenty faces can be recognized in a single frame. In the cloud-based Face Recognition as a Service, recognition time is sub-second and allows for additional analytics in the overall workflow where camera processing capacity is limited.

ADT announced that former Amazon and Chewy.com executive, Jochen Koedijk, has joined the company as its chief marketing officer.

Reporting directly to ADT president Jim DeVries, Koedijk will be responsible for delivering digital and brand marketing strategies and initiatives that drive profitable business growth.

“Customer retention and lead-generation is significantly driven by digital engagement, and Jochen’s leadership experience with world-class organizations such as Amazon, Chewy, and Electronic Arts is an immediate asset to our organization,” DeVries said in the announcement. “Jochen is a marketing innovator, and we’re excited for him to build upon the ADT brand for our next generation of customers.”

Koedijk joins ADT from Chewy.com where he served as the vice president, marketing Previous to Chewy.com, Jochen held roles at Amazon and Electronic Arts. During his time at Amazon, he led worldwide Social Media and New Channel Advertising, overseeing a cross-functional team of more than 70 people and achieving triple digit year-over-year growth. As a member of Electronic Arts’ digital business unit leadership team, Jochen led in-house global performance marketing operations for the company’s Console, PC, and Mobile games business lines.

“Given the tremendous innovation in the home security and automation space, I couldn’t think of a better time to join ADT, North America’s most recognizable security leader,” Koedijk said in a prepared statement. “I look forward to collaborating with my colleagues to continue providing world-class customer service and scaling our business through new and disruptive channels.”

Koedijk holds his degrees in business administration and social sciences from the VU University in Amsterdam, NL.

Jamie Haenggi, who has been overseeing the marketing function as part of her responsibilities, will become the company’s chief customer officer. Customer strategy and retention remains the single most important part of the business, and Haenggi’s experience will be central to enhancing customer engagement, ADT said.

“Jamie is one of our most versatile executives,” DeVries said. “Her passion for the customer, strategic approach and vision for customer experience is instrumental to improving customer retention, maintaining best-in-class customer service and designing a roadmap for further customer engagement and growth.”

“We have made tremendous strides in our customer experience over the past two years,” Haenggi said in the press release. “I’m excited to lead the company’s efforts to further design and execute the customer strategy to deliver greater value, retention and an experience that continues to differentiate ADT in the marketplace.”

ADT, a provider of security and automation solutions in the United States and Canada for homes and businesses based in Boca Raton, Fla., employs approximately 17,500 people throughout North America.

LifeShield, a provider of wireless security systems based in Langhorne, Pa., recently added more home automation capabilities for its customers.

“The big thing for us is making sure that our customers have additional use out of their systems,” Doug Bellenger, chief product officer for LifeShield, told Security Systems News.

The LifeShield S30 base is now certified to work with Z-Wave devices. The company has added capabilities with lights, locks, thermostats, garage door controls and voice control through Amazon’s Alexa. “And we’ve added IFTTT to help us connect our customers to the larger IoT ecosystem,” he said. “Part of this integration is obviously making sure they’re available via our applications.”

LifeShield customers have been looking for more home automation, Bellenger said, and the company started working on these automation efforts in January of this year.

“By pairing home automation, voice control, and an improved video experience with our existing wireless home security packages, LifeShield’s capabilities offer everything customers need to create a safe and convenient home environment at an incredible value,” Mike Hagan, LifeShield’s original co-founder and current CEO, said in a prepared statement.

The Security Industry Association (SIA) recently provided an update and info on the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR)’s announcement of a process to obtain product exclusions from Section 301 tariffs on $34 billion in Chinese goods imported to the United States. In effect as of Friday, July 6, an additional 25 percent tariff applies to 56 tariff subheadings identified by SIA as impacting security-related products.

USTR is now considering exclusion requests “to address situations that warrant excluding a particular product within a subheading, but not the tariff subheading as a whole.”

Since exclusions will be made on a product and not a company basis, exclusions will apply to all imports of the product regardless of whether the importer filed a request.

The exclusion process has the following important dates and features:

• The public will have 90 days to file a request for a product exclusion; the request period will end on Tuesday, Oct. 9.• Following public posting of the filed request on regulations.gov, the public will have 14 days to file responses to the request for product exclusion. After the close of the 14-day response period, interested persons will have an additional 7 days to reply to any responses received in support of or opposition to the request.• Exclusions will be effective for one year upon the publication of the exclusion determination in the Federal Register and will apply retroactively to July 6.

In evaluating requests, USTR will consider whether:

• A product is available from a source outside of China• The additional duties would cause severe economic harm to the requestor or other U.S. interests• The particular product is strategically important or related to Chinese industrial programs including “Made in China 2025”

SIA wants to ensure affected members review the official notice and are aware of the opportunity for an exclusion via regulations.gov. Additionally, SIA asks members to share any specific products covered within these categories “that they believe may qualify for exclusion and are important to the U.S. security industry, in order to assist us in analyzing this issue.”

Security Systems News is also looking at this topic in our News Poll this month, so please weigh in by voting and commenting.

ASIS International recently announced changes for this year’s Global Security Exchange, to be held Sept 23-27 at the Las Vegas Convention Center, including new stages on the exhibit floor as well as career development opportunities.

“We have completely re-engineered GSX to provide more opportunities for security practitioners, solution providers, students, military and first responders. From Career HQ and the International Trade Center to our three unique theaters of education and live demos, attendees and exhibitors will find tremendous value in our immersive, engaging, and informative expo hall,” Richard E. Chase, CPP, PCI, PSP, 2018 president, ASIS International, said in the announcement.

The exhibit floor at GSX will now include three new “X Learning Theaters.” The “X Stage” will feature technologies and their impacts across the industry; such as blockchain and cryptocurrencies, AI, drones and robotics, social media and the digital self. The “Xcelerated Exchange Stage,” will provide a forum for discussions between practitioners and solution providers to proactively address the current and future security landscape. Lastly, the “Xperience Stage” at GSX will showcase case studies and other best practices that address security challenges practitioners face across all industry sectors, including active shooter scenarios, bullying in the healthcare industry, and the risks associated with hosting a public event at cultural institutions.

The new “Career HQ” will have a career fair and enhanced career center, according to ASIS. “Job seekers will have access to resume reviews, a headshot studio, career coaching, professional development sessions and networking opportunities with employers and peers—all free. The new career fair will have top companies looking to hire talent, such as the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Apple,” the announcement read.

ASIS also announced the “D3 Xperience.” This event, supported by Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI), will educate attendees on the impact of unmanned systems on the security industry. Education and demos will showcase the emerging technology around the use of drones, droids and counter-UAV defense systems.

Lastly, the Innovative Product Awards Showcase will highlight new products and services on the GSX show floor that are poised to disrupt the security marketplace. The submission deadline for the IPAs is Aug. 3.

“In addition to these features, the exhibit floor will house an International Trade Center and the ASIS Hub, which includes access to ASIS Council representatives, live streaming interviews, and fireside chats,” ASIS said in its announcement.

VIZpin, a designer and manufacturer of the VIZpin smartphone-based, Bluetooth enabled access entry system, has announced the appointment of Wendi Grinnell to the newly created position of vice president, effective immediately.

Grinnell, of Elizabethtown, is a graduate of Rutgers University and has 20 years of marketing and sales leadership experience. She joined VIZpin in January 2017 in the role of marketing director.

According to VIZpin president and CEO Paul Bodell, the role of VP was added to the company’s organization to support VIZpin’s rapid growth and market expansion.

“Wendi’s extensive industry experience in customer-focused technology solutions and technical marketing make her a natural fit for the important role of Vice President,” Bodell said in the announcement. “Her contributions as marketing director have been invaluable, and we are eager for her to apply her innovative thinking and vision in her new, expanded role to continue enhancing VIZpin’s strategic direction and driving additional growth and profitability.”

As vice president, Grinnell will work closely with Bodell to determine VIZpin’s overall business strategy. She will have an integral role in the development and execution of the company’s growth strategy to achieve strategic business objectives, including leading sales and marketing efforts and team members to secure new business and expand existing business.

“Since joining VIZpin, it has been exciting to see such a dramatic shift in the industry with the adoption of smartphone access control,” Grinnell said. “There are many new opportunities to explore, and as Vice President, I am looking forward to helping to create and execute new strategies to continue to expand our brand and grow the business.”

Mission 500 recently sent out a save the date announcement for its annual security industry softball game fundraiser, which will take place on Aug. 26. The game will be from noon to 3 PM at Overpeck County Park, located at 199 Challenger Road in Ridgefield Park, New Jersey.

This will be the fourth annual softball game hosted by Mission 500, with the first occurring in 2015. “Our biggest growth, and where it’s kind of exciting, has been—in addition to raising more funds and supporting more programs—engaging the industry, both professionally and even on a personal level,” Jeff Eichenlaub, director of strategic partnerships for Mission, told Security Systems News. “Last year some of our partners actually brought out clients, families to be part of the event and it was really exciting to see the industry come together.”

In 2017, individuals from 20 companies (along with their children) participated and helped raise over $45,000.

Mission 500 will also be hosting a Back to School Care Pack event at the game with a goal of assembling 200 book bags filled with school supplies. Every $27 donated fills one backpack for donation to local children in need. “We’ve made that a tradition,” Eichenlaub said. “That’s important because it’s an opportunity for us as an organization to inspire other folks to do things. Part of the goal of mission 500 is to not just do our own events, but to really be a catalyst in the industry.”

Sponsorships are available between $500 and $5,000. Companies contributing over $1,500 will have the option to designate one or two players to a team.

Growth in the global professional video surveillance equipment market accelerated in 2017, and is forecasted to continue growing in 2018, according the latest IHS Markit research.

The world market for professional video surveillance equipment grew by 9.3 percent in 2017, IHS found, a much higher rate of growth than in 2016 (3.9 percent) and 2015 (1.9 percent).

“Increased government spending on equipment to fight crime and terrorism was a major factor in this growth, as was private sector spending on replacing equipment in retail and commercial installations,” Jon Cropley, senior principal analyst, video surveillance, IHS Markit, said in a summary of the study.

Increasing demand for security cameras is expected in 2018, he said, but a slightly lower of level of price erosion is also forecast. The combination of these factors will lead to 10.2 percent growth in the video surveillance equipment market, which will reach $18.5 billion in 2018, IHS noted.

Global demand for security cameras grew rapidly in 2017, but average prices continued to fall. “Nevertheless, revenue grew in most countries,” said Cropley. “Two of the fastest-growing country markets were Brazil and India. A major factor behind the growth in both countries was increased spending by private retail and commercial organizations on HD CCTV systems used to prevent crime.”

Accounting for 44 percent of all global revenue, the Chinese professional video surveillance equipment market grew by 14.7 percent, while the world market excluding China grew just 5.5 percent. “One major reason for the higher growth in China was the government’s Xue Liang program driving investment in both city surveillance projects and extending city surveillance systems into surrounding rural areas,” Cropley noted.

Other key findings include:• Although it remains highly fragmented compared to many other markets, the supply base for professional video surveillance equipment is gradually becoming more concentrated. The top 15 vendors accounted for 62 percent of global revenue in 2017.

• Deep-learning-enabled recorders and servers, a new category this year, are an important element in powering what many expect to be the next generation of video analytics using artificial intelligence. They accounted for just 1 percent of global market revenues in 2017.

We’ve been receiving a lot of great submissions for our “20 under 40” awards but we’d like to give companies more time to submit their best and brightest professionals under the age of 40.

The new deadline is July 20, 2018. Please have all of your nominations submitted by this date.

This award is a great way to recognize up-and-coming professionals—from either the integrator side or the end user side—and those eligible can certainly nominate themselves.

As a reminder, we do have two classes in our annual “20 under 40” awards, each class containing 20 professionals. We have our Integrator class, which includes integrators, installers, dealers or monitoring center professionals. We also have our End User class, which encompasses security directors and professionals that protect non-security companies.

Unfortunately, manufacturers and consultants are not eligible for this award.

If you—or a professional you know—stand out in either of these categories, click here to enter a nomination.

All of our winners of these two classes will be recognized at a special reception at Security Systems News’ 2019 TechSec Solutions conference. This event will be held in Delray Beach, Fla., at the Delray Beach Marriott, Feb. 25 and 26, 2019.

SIA recently released its July 2018 Security Market Index (SMI), which showed industry confidence rebounding after a slight drop in confidence in May.

“After a rocky spring, confidence within the security industry seems to be recovering slightly,” according to the report. “Improvement in a variety of areas, including product production, new product introductions and new orders, led to a July 2018 Security Market Index (SMI) of 65. Any index above 50 indicates that conditions within the industry are largely positive and that security industry professionals are largely confident in their business prospects. The May 2018 SMI was 55, and the March 2018 SMI was 72.”

Special focuses of the July 2018 edition of SMI include:• Confidence in the surveillance segment climbing, cautiously• Slowing growth for integrators• Access control professionals broadly positive moving into summer• Consultants holding steady, but with little improvement• A bonus feature on government spending and security

According to SIA, the majority of security professionals surveyed for the July 2018 SIA Security Market Index “are at least cautiously optimistic about the prospect of increased security spending this year as a result of the recently enacted Omnibus Appropriations Act. Nearly a quarter of SMI survey respondents were ‘very optimistic about increased spending.’”

Many SIA members cited the poor timing or late release of the FY18 federal budget as the cause for “less than ideal current business conditions” in May.

“After the Omnibus Appropriations Act was enacted, however, more projects and new orders started trickling down, said one video surveillance professional,” the report noted. “One security systems integrator noted, however, that ‘if we start a trade war, (mess) up the immigrant inflow and keep proposing up coal, we’ll not continue the economic growth.’”

Overall, most security professionals surveyed for the July 2018 SIA Security Market Index (surveyed between June 1 and June 15, 2018) consider current business conditions to be either “excellent” (45 percent) or “good” (35 percent).

The majority of security industry professionals surveyed for the July 2018 Security Market Index cited increases in the number of employees or hours worked, marketing spending, product production, new product introductions, product or service sales and new orders.

For capital equipment spending, most (52 percent) said rates were remaining the same, but 48% said spending was increasing, which is improvement compared with May 2018, when only 34 percent were seeing increased capital equipment spending and 12 percent cited decreases.

For security systems integrators only 29 percent consider current business conditions to be “excellent,” compared with 45 percent of the SMI overall. A further 43 percent consider current conditions “good,” but 28 percent believe current conditions are either “average” or “fair.”

Overall, the integrator-specific Index for July 2018 is 59, down three points from its May 2018 level of 62.

Over the next three months, most integrators believe business conditions will be either “much better” (29 percent) or “a little better” (57 percent). This is a little more optimistic than the outlook from June 2017, when only 14 percent of integrators expected conditions over the next quarter to be “much better,” with 71 percent expecting “a little better” conditions.

Click here for the full report, including details on increasing confidence in the surveillance and access control segments, as well as info on security consultants, 75 percent of whom consider current business conditions as “excellent.”